Just like a phoenix
by PhoenixFire777
Summary: Things are going well in Katniss's life, until suddenly, one fine day, her daughter and son have to go into hunger games, which have inexplicably started again, and are deadlier than ever. And that' not even the best part...or perhaps, the worst part. It is yet to come, and no one but one person holds the key to it's solution.
1. Chapter 1

**Just like a phoenix.**

Chapter 1: Free.

_Katniss's POV:_

The evening beckons night, sinking in a swirling pattern to give it room. The sky is not the usual bouncing waves of violet, purple and blue and pink, but a storm of cloudy grey and dark blue whiffs. With one glance, not just me, but anyone would tell that it is going to rain, and hard. I'm still in the woods, my son, Dillin being at he bakery, and my dear daughter Lindil, at her best friend's place.

I get worried about her sometimes, her best friend being a guy, who, Dillin confided to me, likes her. I'm not too worried though, for three reasons. First: Lindil is fifteen, no longer a kid, second: Liam's a good boy, he does care about my daughter, and third: Lindil is my girl, but that doesn't mean that none of Peeta's gene's haven't gotten into her. She's by far, way more patient than I am.

Sitting still, as I am, in this hollow, with all this silence around me, only the trees making noise with the rustling of their leaves, it is but natural that I jump at the sound of thunder. Slowly, I peek out. Drops slide down the curtain of clouds and into the small canopy above me, then finally touching my cheek as they fall like pearls from cups of green leaves.

I smile to myself revealing in the beauty of it, and as the memory of Peeta comes into my mind, I can feel that warm tingle reach out to embrace me, just like his arms would. All these years of marriage haven't erased that memory yet. I haven't kept it at bay, like I have learned to keep others at bay.

I roll under the still existing fence around district 12, and as I make my way towards our cosy house, I look up at the sky, observing as the clouds clash and thunder,

and the night sky burns black, and the rain heavily pours down, as like a whip, lightening struck back.

* * *

_Lindil's POV:_

Liam finally claims that he likes me, and I'm still not responding. He looks at me with a worried expression on his face and care in his green-grey eyes as he lowers his face to my level and I just can't bear with it anymore. I take his hair in my hands and I make him kneel down next to me, on the damp floor of his back patio. He gulps down some worry of his, and leans in, wrapping his warm arms around the cold me. I lean in too. After a while, he opens his eyes and ducks down, looking into mine.

With a puzzled impression that puzzles me more, he says,"Aren't you gonna kiss me?" Till then, I had just been leaning my head on his shoulder.

I chuckled, enjoying the suspense,"Well, you never asked me to kiss you. Just because I like you too, doesn't mean I suddenly want your tongue into my mouth." I smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck and then, I snogged him. Hard.

I wondered what was wrong with me and lightning. I mean, sure, I had been light-headed at one moment before breaking my lips apart from Liam's, but the spark inside me wanting more must have to be strong to bring down a lightening bolt to shoot a nearby tree down, hence making both me and Liam bolt inside the house.

I was cuddled up, unfortunately not in Liam's arms, but in a blanket on our sofa at our house, where dad was proceeding to tell us all a story. Mom was curled up next to him, and Dillin, my 13 yr old brother was lounging in the armchair by the fire.

* * *

_Katniss's POV:_

I sighed and shut my eyelids close, leaving the world behind, as I felt Peeta's arms snake around mine as he began,"This is a poem-story that my dad and my elder brother used to sing for me and less-elder brother. It's about this young boy, who is happy and content and warm, but is thrust into the rain, and how he is encouraged to make the best of whatever season comes. I'll sing you all to sleep with it, so the rain won't bother you. And then you can dream of spring, just like when times are hard, you dream of better times.

See the rain, see it fall,

Tip-tapping to you, the nature's call.

Go out in the rain, that's from the heavens above,

Flame in your youth, find your love.

Feel it sweep and flood, feel it drop,

Then after the dreadful rain, the frogs shall hop.

And spring shall come, the rain's great boon,

And dandelions ope, in the sunny noon.

And rainbows will colour the entire sky,

You'll get through the troubles if you aim for high.

Child, you can follow the sunshine that shines,

Like the lamps that men follow, deep in the mines.

Like the stars that adorns the sky like jewels,

You can find your guide to the silver bells,

That ring with joy of bridal grace,

Your love guiding you, and keeping you pace.

I opened bleary eye to see our children fast asleep. As always, Peeta's voice had done all the magic. But this time, his words, for me, had done it so much better. I turned and kissed him lightly. He pulled me up against him, and caressed me with soft hands.

It was now, that for the first time I wish my left ear were still deaf, for a loud gong, followed by shrill Capitol anthem blasts into my repaired left ear. There's an announcement coming, and Capitol making personal announcements right into my house is serious. I just have no idea what the hell is this about. I hope it's about me, and not my kids. I happen to get what I hoped for, and in addition to that, what I did not hope for. One free, on another...

* * *

**A/N: **

Hey, people! So, this is a new fanfic, first of mine on HG, I really hope you like it. Please leave a review. they happen to encourage me...:)

Phoenix.


	2. Caged

Chapter 2: Caged

_Katniss's POV:_

I lean back as a voice I know well announces that our new president, Oliver Tapciol has an announcement to make. I watch as the television screen blurs for a moment before a man with short-cut olive hair and excessive black-shadow make-up surfaces on the screen.

My children, having woken up, yawn and look at the TV too, but I can't wrench my gaze away from the screen because I don't want them to see the pain the memories bring me. Peeta draws me back to his chest, his breath warm on my hair...

The new president is speaking now. Speaking words that echo the ones that haunt my memories. He says,"The late president, Ms. Snow, grand daughter of the famous president Snow has left the cabinet, with some specific instructions to me. The Hunger Games. Yes, that will ring a bell in the minds of the victors of the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, surely. Their children too, perhaps. Well, it better, because they're back! And the reaping will be conducted in a month. The children of any relatives of the victors of the 74th and 75th Hunger Games will be reaped. Happy Hunger Games once more, and may the odds be ever in your favour, although I doubt that stands true for the Mocking Jay!"

It can't be true. I refuse to believe it...no, no. Not my dear children. Dilly's just thirteen and Lindy's not even the age when I was reaped first...no, it just can't be. I can feel Peeta's grip on me tighten as he slackens back into the couch. I know that he needs comfort. That this time, I have to be the one that brings him back from the ever-visiting nightmares, but it's my daughter's stare that brings me back from the arena and the bloody fights and deaths.

* * *

_Lindil's POV:_

After the announcement that clearly breaks my mama and dad down, Dilin is the one who moves first. He goes over to them and climbs into dad's sagged lap, fitting into his frame, whispering words of comfort. I can't comfort them. Not just because I'm not capable of it, but also because whatever mama and dad told me about Hunger Games years ago was never followed by any sort of explanation as to their return.

And by the expression on mama's face, I know that she knew this would happen some day. That she dreaded it from the very beginning, and then the fact that she never told us that registers. It's all I can do not to glare at them and demand a reason. I would have been so better prepared. Now, all I can do is hope that I'll be able to protect Dillin.

I fling myself from the couch and make for the door, grabbing the old leather jacket as I go. The rain has stopped just minutes ago, judging by the dewdrops that fall fresh from the leaves. As I reach the end of the path, I turn, despite myself, to look at my home of all these 15 years. All I can see though, is my mother's dark silhouette, closing the front door, I had left swinging on it's hinges, shutting me out, it seems, forever.

Blind with confusion and sorrow and pain, I stumble through the darkness, alone and it seems, forgotten. The fence where me and Liam first met, seems to block me out too, so I make no effort to roll under it. Instead, I change direction and a few feet away, huddle up beside a since long burnt stove. The ashes remain though, dark as coal-dust and I'm thinking of making a fire to brood into, when a paw falls on my knee. I angle my face up so that I'm looking into the yellow eyes of a cat. No, my cat. Sunshine!

I should have known that loneliness makes you do desperate things but now I'm bearing consequences of having fed Sunshine pieces of the game I shot. But at least it's some company...and here comes more, I think, as Liam wades through the moonless night, no doubt to try and comfort me. I'll let him, though, today for once, I'll let him.

* * *

_Haymitch's POV:_

The squirrels that look so cute but are so deadly attack me with their long nails and piercing teeth. I back away, knowing that I'm out-numbered, but they advance too, held back only by a bit of net that I managed to rig up before. Suddenly, it's not squirrels that attack me, but a wild Katniss, and it's not nets that hold her back, it's that smart boy, Finnick. Somehow, I stumble back to the present at her sight. Maybe because she still lived, maybe because I know she'll kill me in my dream...

The television screen shows me a man I can't recognise, but makes me hear words that ring in Effie Trinket's voice for me. "-Happy Hunger Games once again, and may the odds be ever" I don't realise I've smashed the TV to the ground till the glass cuts my knuckles and my feet. Without even hearing the whole announcement, I know the essence of it. The Games are back with Peeta and Katniss having to mentor their own kids.

I stagger to the sofa and drink some white wine. Ah! At least I won't be mentoring...and I drift into the happy times when Maysilee Donner kissed me on the cheek and I boldly hugged her in front of her 13-year old giggling girlfriends.

* * *

_Gale's POV:_

I listen to what the people around me are saying, verifying it's truthfulness on the screen in the square in district 2. I get home as fast as I can, and dial a number I remember, even after years of no contact at all. No one picks up, of course. Katniss will be in shock, so will be Peeta.

I'm reminded of the one time I visited them. Of the time when I visited them first. Their little daughter, Lindil was just 2, and Katniss was about to have a kid. I remember her pale face turning paler as her still brilliant grey eyes searched me for the reason I had arrived...those days are past now, and I'm engaged to the prettiest girl that ever was. Her name is Lucy, and I do really love her. I know now how fragile my love for Katniss was.

But she needs me, hence I must go. I owe her that for all she gave me and also for all she refused me. I go to the train station, hoping to find them safe. Especially my niece, since she looks so much like Lucy, since she was the one to make me her 'uncle'. The train that comes to take me to my original home speeds up, and I know somehow, that the train is taking me to a destination never intended to be reached by me.

* * *

**A/N: **

Thank you so much for the review hinkevanabbema. Really appreciate it.

Readers, so very sorry for updating so late, but I so really busy. Thanks for reading!

With warm wishes,

Phoenix. :)


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